Oracle Layoffs 2009: Sorting Fact from Rumors

If you have any information on Oracle severance pay, Oracle layoff packages or Oracle layoff rumors, email me.

UPDATE as of April 16th, 2009:

Looks like heads are rolling again as Oracle began another major round of layoffs yesterday, April 15th. Maybe Oracle got back less than they were expecting on their tax return? Hmmm.

UPDATE as of Thursday, January 15th, 2009:

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the number of jobs cut last Friday at 500.

For all Sales Consultants, the word on the street is that Q2 bonus checks are getting mailed today (those not laid off received the bonus in today’s pay check) and Cobra will be sent from a separate outsourced company and takes a “couple of weeks” to arrive.

Peter Goldmacher, of analyst firm Cowen, said in a research note that Oracle cut just over one percent of its workforce on Friday (approx. 800 employees) and that the layoffs were spread throughout the firm. The cuts to the services group and the sales and marketing department were the most significant, although most of the sales and marketing staff cuts were in overlay and sales consulting roles, Goldmacher said in his note. The cuts could potentially improve Oracle’s margins, he added.

The Times of India also reported Sunday that 40 people were laid-off at Oracle’s development office in Bangalore.

Oracle Layoff Rumors:

The Oracle layoffs are company-wide and is in the order of 10-15%, or about 8,000 employees (Oracle employs about 84,000 globally.)

One poster who identified himself as a member of online group for former Oracle employees, Club Ex-Oracle, wrote “I can safely confirm that they had laid off 20% of the consulting staff.”

Tim Klasell, an analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners, told Computerworld he thought the layoffs were likely to be in the hundreds or low thousands, rather than the 8,000-figure buzzing about on some blogs and message boards.

On April 29 of last year Oracle successfully completed a hostile takeover of BEA Systems… In an effort to stave off the acquisition, BEA changed the terms of its severance in late 2007 so that most employees would receive between 3 months and 12 months of pay and COBRA health insurance if they were laid-off within a year of an acquisition. According to a December 22 filing to the SEC (see page 12), Oracle expects to eventually spend a total of $148 million on severance packages for laid-off employees of BEA, which it bought in January 2008. My guess? Since the severance package clause expires on April 29 and Oracle’s fiscal year ends on May 31st, if there’s going to be a massive round of layoffs of former-BEA employees it’ll come in May.

There you have it: a complete inconclusive post that confirms Oracle is laying off employees, but throws skepticism at the 8,000 number that’s been tossed around.

Forecast: Partly cloudy, with a chance of thunderstorms and moderate layoffs into the spring. Expect mild waves over the next couple of months, with a chance of shit really hitting the fan in May, if it’s going to at all.

There is a rumor that consulting division will no longer exist ! All the efforts will now be directed towards Oracle Support which is the more lucrative division. The layoffs will occur progressively to keep all this a secret !

Oracle had another mass layoff today (Apr 15) with no notice, they spent extra effort to keep is hushed up. Management was undr strict orders from the HR to keep it quiet until the very last second. Layoffs are across the board and going to come in waves. I have reason to believe Oracle is going to take its time to spread the layoffs over the months to avoid the WARN act.